Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Hurricane Harvey and His Siblings…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
06 Sep 2017
🖨️ Print Article
  Hurricane Harvey and His Siblings…
Hurricane Harvey and His Siblings…

“We are family…”
Harvey, Ike, Matthew,
sisters Sandy,
Rita, Katrina
Sing four part harmony
top of their lungs
Watching rivers rise, waist-deep water
climb above confederate flag license plates,
climate-denier bumper stickers;
Watching mocha broth
Disappear pickup
trucks and gun racks
They’re doubling over
with devilish laughter
Mocking an orange piece of
pyrite and1% it represents:
“Pulling out of Paris?
Where’s your wall?
All options on the table?
How ‘bout‘Mother Of All Boats?’
Hey, Boss Tweet, wanna
grab some 135mph pussy?”

“ Love flyovers at
football games—how ‘bout
Harvey’s—enough clear beer
to fill NFL
stadiums like Dixie
Cups, a thousand times over?”

“Lone Star State? Wasn’t it
Mexico?
Don’t dig refugees?
How ‘bout evacuees?
Oppose Sanctuary Cities?
How ‘bout sheltering in
Mega-churches of
prosperity-pimps?
Biblical proportions?
Once every thousand
year events—annually?”

“Comfortable with the
Bulldozing of ‘other’ peoples’
Homes and olive trees, and
Bombing babies of ‘others?’
Love lethal ‘cocktails’
in executions?” “What if Harvey said
his ‘surgical strikes’
were aimed at ‘bad guys—‘
Exxon-Mobil State—
ECO-TERRORIST RACKETEERS
and sacrifice zones:
asthma alleys, cancer cul-de-sacs—
Pre-existing conditions?”

“What if Harvey claimed
Children, Women, Elders, Pets
were wrong place, wrong time
‘collateral damage,’
‘civilian casualties?’
What if he boasted,
‘A sadist sheriff
Can’t stop me…
59 missiles and
chocolate cake
Can’t stop me…
Bloated budgets for
Snooping, spying;
For militarized police,
Nukes, aircraft carriers,
bombers, boots on the ground;
For ‘extraordinary rendition,’
‘enhanced interrogation’
and ‘black sites’
Can’t stop me…
Told you I was comin’—
Mr. Muthafukkka—am
I a Chinese hoax,
or Bad Hombre—or
can you hear me now?”

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry
post-Katrina

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  • RFK, Jr.: It’s Not Genetics, It’s Racial Capitalism
    Jacqueline Luqman
    RFK, Jr.: It’s Not Genetics, It’s Racial Capitalism
    19 Jul 2023
    Black people were disproportionately impacted by the covid pandemic. The causes of the crisis were systemic, not genetic.
  • The Soviet Union’s Support for Black Liberation Earns Russia Grace With Africans Everywhere
    Jon Jeter
    The Soviet Union’s Support for Black Liberation Earns Russia Grace With Africans Everywhere
    19 Jul 2023
    The Soviet Union's support of liberation movements and the activism of the Communist Party in the U.S. is not forgotten by the African diaspora. Today the Russian Federation is a beneficiary of good…
  • Nahel's France: Neo-Colonized and Pan-African Voices Speak Up
    Julia Wright
    Nahel's France: Neo-Colonized and Pan-African Voices Speak Up
    19 Jul 2023
    The police killing of Nahel M. in France cannot be properly analyzed outside of the context of French colonialism and neo-colonialism.
  • Eritrea: The Story You Don't Hear
    Eugene Puryear
    Eritrea: The Story You Don't Hear
    19 Jul 2023
    Eritrea is an African success story. The nation provides for its peoples needs despite the impact of sanctions imposed by the west which are meant to undermine its sovereignty.
  • Black Agenda Radio July 14, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 14, 2023
    14 Jul 2023
    In this week’s segment we will learn about Eritrea’s history of struggle against imperialist intervention, and how New York City policy harms the unhoused population. But first we hear about the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us